Means for connecting chair back rests to tubular structural ends



Feb. 9, 1954 M. GREITZER MEANS FOR CONNECTING CHAIR BACK RESTS To TUBULAR STRUCTURAL ENDS Flled Sept 25 1950 INVENTOR. Me ver 610/ 73 er Patented Feb. 9, 1954 MEANS FOR CONNECTING CHAIR BACK RES-TS TiO'TUBULAR STRUCTURAL ENDS Meyer Greitzer, Beverly Hills, Calif. Applicationseptem'ber 25, 1950,"Serial'No. 186,569

This invention relates to means and ways for joining the back-rests of chairs to tubular means which are now common in the furniture art. The means and ways consist of a stamping or casting which has one end portion thereof adapted to be forced or driven into a bored or molded hole in the back-rest and another end portion which is adapted to be slid, forced or driven into the end of a tube which is designed to support the back-rest; other means may, however, be associated With the end portion which enters the tube-end that constitutes a latching device so that the tube can be readily disconnected from the back-rest when desired for packing and storing purposes.

The invention has among its objects the production of a means of the kind described that is simple, durable and compact in structure, inexpensive to manufacture and use, a means that is durable and compact for repeated uses, a means that is dependable and efiicient in use and servic and can be relied upon for satisfaction for making connections between the structural tube ends of chairs and the edge portions of backrests.

Other objects, advantages and features of this invention will appear from a careful perusal of the accompanying drawings, the subjoined detailed description, the preamble of these specifications, and the claims appended hereto.

Below, applicant describes one of the preferable forms of his invention in order to teach the art thereof and show how to make and use the same, but it is to be understood that the drawings and description thereof are not to limit the invention in any sense whatsoever except as the same may be limited by the appended claims. Language employed herein is not to be construed as giving any unauthorized person or organization the right to make, use and/or vend the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a front perspective view of a typical chair upon which the invention may be employed;

Figure 2 is an enlarged sectional View taken substantially along the line 22 of Figure 1, parts, however, being shown in elevational view;

Figure 3 is also an enlarged sectional view but taken at right angles to that illustrated in Figur 2, parts thereof also being shown in elevational view; and

Figure 4 is a horizontal view taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 2.

The invention is adapted for ready use on any type of chair having upright tubular frame means 2 Claims. (Cl. 155-196) adapted to receive a back-rest, but for purposes of illustration only, such a chair and back-rest may be of the type shown in Figure l with two or more supporting legs. In any event, such a chair usually has the-seat portion l which is generally supported by side rails which are indicated at 2 and 3 and which are tubular and part of a single tubular structural member 4, but it is obviously immaterial whether 01' not the supporting means is of a single member like '4. This particular tubular member has the pair of upright leg portions 5 and 8 which are integral with the horizontal rails 1 and 8, respectively, and the rear ends of these rails are connected by a cross rail 9 which is integral therewith;

' these latter rails contact the floor upon which the chair rests. The side rails 2 and 3 have the upturned rear rails or tubes I 0 and H, respectively, and these are designed to give suitable support for the chair back-rest l2, as illustrated.

As shown in the enlarged views of Figs. 2, 3 and 4, the tubular ends of the rails l0 and II accommodate the enlarged flat end I3 of a connector insert bar or element [4, the upper integral portion of this element having a somewhat narrowed stem l5 which is adapted to be driven into the bore l6 of the back-rest l2. The back-rest may be a molded integral single piece or fabricated from various structural elements, but nevertheless, a solid portion is provided at the vertical side edges of the back-rest having the bore l6 which is sized to snugly receive the stem iii of the connector element.

The lower end l3 of the connector element is sized to snugly fit into the hollow tube portion ID or II and the snug fit itself may be relied upon for holding the back-rest to the structural tubular rails. A cap or ferrule I! is provided atop the tubular rail and provided with a, slot [8 to accommodate the element l4. This cap prevents the rail ends from marring and scoring the finish of the back-rest and/or the fabric covering thereof. These caps I I need not be afiixed to the top of the rail ends in that it cannot be displaced.

When it is desired to make the back-rests easily removable from their supporting rails, a spring latch means may be employed. Such a latch means may have the oif-set strip element IQ of spring steel or equivalent which is thoroughly anchored at 20 as by rivets, welding, etc. The other portion of the latch means has a button 2! fixed thereto and which is adapted to enter the hole 22 in the tube H) or II and which prevents the element end l3 being removed from 3 the tube until the button 2| is pressed so as to completely clear the hole 22. Thus, the backrest can be easily removed from the rest of the chair when desired by a simple operation which should now be obvious.

It is, of course, understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of form, style, design, materials and construction of the whole or any part of the specifically described embodiment of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof in that such changes and modifications are considered as being within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a chair having a back-rest portion and a seat portion, one of the portions having a bore and the other portion having a tube extending therefrom which has an open end in alinement with and near an end of the bore, the open end of the tube having a cap thereon with a narrow slot therein, a connector element having a broad flat end, the edges of which have a friction fit across the tube, and a reduced narrow end of the element which passes through the slot of the cap and has a friction fit in the bore, the broad end of the connector element having a latching means, the latching means consisting of a spring band having one end thereof fixed to the broad end of the connector element and the other end offset from the element and provided with a button, and an aperture in a side portion of the tube releasable receiving the button.

2. In a chair having a back-rest portion and a seat portion, the back-rest portion having a bore near each lateral edge and the seat portion having a pair of spaced apart tubes extending upwardly therefrom which have open ends that are in alinement with and near the said bores in the back-rest, a snug cap fixed to the end of each tube and provided with a slot, a connector element for each tube having a broad flat end, each flat end having a friction fit with the inner surface of its respective tube, each connector element having a reduced narrow end that passes through the slot of its respective cap for entering its respective bore of the back-rest, the broad end of each connector within its respective tube having latching means consisting of a spring band with one end thereof fixed to the broad end of the connector element and the other end offset from the element and provided with a button, each tube having an aperture adapted to receive its respective button of the latching means.

MEYER GREITZER.

References Cited in the file of this patent I UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,140,635 Konarski Dec. 20, 1938 2,281,902 Witz May 5, 1942 2,461,055 Greitzer Feb. 8, 1949 2,522,394 Myers Sept. 12, 1950 2,525,126 Greitzer Oct. 10, 1950 

